ISU World Team Trophy 2023: Jason Brown, 'more energised than ever', leads trio of comeback stories in Tokyo
Brown - along with Kevin Aymoz and Deanna Stellato-Dudek - bring their inspiring seasons to an end this weekend in Tokyo. What comes next for the three fan favourites?
Figure Skating
Thirteen months since his previous international performance – at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 – Jason Brown stood centre ice, his arms aloft, as the praise of the Japanese crowd rained down on him.
The American veteran, now 28, had just finished his second of two standout performances at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships. He’d place fifth – his best finish in nearly a decade.
A year earlier, after his second Olympic experience, Brown was near certain he would retire. Now he’s unsure when – if – he’ll stop.
“As I get older, I have to be really creative with how I train,” Brown told reporters in the Saitama Super Arena, where Worlds was held. “I can’t my pound my body, the way I used to train. ... It’s about figuring out creative ways to keep that performance endurance.”
Jason Brown: I was near-retirement after Beijing
For Brown, that’s meant saying “yes” (a lot!) to the many show opportunities he’s been given, which have allowed him to continue to travel and skate – but also afforded him an avenue in which to stay on his game.
“I left Beijing and I was really set on not continuing,” he said. “[But] I finished a summer of shows and I was only more energized than ever before. ... We started to wrap our brains around how I was going to strategise for the season.”
That season continues this weekend, with the World Team Trophy – held every opposite year by the ISU – in Tokyo. He joins Ilia Malinin and the rest of Team USA in the six-nation field, but again fans will be wondering: Is this the last time we see Jason compete?
Not even he’s certain of that.
Kevin Aymoz: 'It's a beautiful fourth place'
While all eyes are set to be on Team Japan favourites Sakamoto Kaori and the pairs team of Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi (Uno Shoma withdrew with an ankle injury), France’s Kevin Aymoz represents another feel-good story on the ice, though his path has taken a different, winding road than Brown’s.
The 2019 Grand Prix Final bronze medallist had continued bad luck with injuries, a myriad of which nearly set him out of Beijing 2022. A sprained ankle forced him out of the Grand Prix de France in November, and a few weeks later he lost his grip on the French national title for the first time in five years.
But Aymoz brought his A-game to Saitama, his emotional short program buoyed further by an exceptional free skate. His fourth-place finish was the best by a French man since 2007 world champ Brian Joubert was fourth in 2012.
“This season was a roller-coaster,” the 25-year-old said. “It’s a beautiful fourth [place]. I’m really happy. At my low point, I was thinking, ‘Bye figure skating, I hate you so much.’ But I put my skates back on.”
Aymoz, who struggled through physical challenges to be 12th at Beijing 2022, has his eyes on Milano Cortina 2026 – and beyond.
“For sure I’m going to the next Olympics, that’s my goal,” Aymoz said. “I have so many things to create. I already have my programs for next season. ... If I’m still in shape (after 2026), I’m going to keep going... “
Deanna Stellato-Dudek: No stopping until Milano 2026
As Aymoz and Brown offer two different roads back to the world (and World Team Trophy) stage, Canadian pairs skater Deanna Stellato-Dudek continues to be perhaps the most inspiring story in the sport.
After a standout junior career in which she won the Junior World silver medal in 2000, Stellato-Dudek stepped away from the sport for a stunning 16 years, only to realize she wished to return when she was on a work retreat for her job as an aesthetician.
At Worlds, she and partner Maxime Deschamps were in the hunt for a medal in the pairs event, only to finish just shy, in fourth place.
But the 39-year-old doesn’t just want to finish the season strong at World Team Trophy – where the top four teams from Worlds are due to compete – she is eyeing the next three years, and the path to the 2026 Games.
“Our big goal is the 2026 Olympics, and to be the top Canadian team going into that Olympics,” Stellato-Dudek told CBC in a recent interview. “We want to be medal contenders. And we still have quite a bit of improvement to get to that point.”
“We want to be ready for 2026,” Deschamps added. “Everything is about learning and getting better for that moment.”